Chinese Cyber-Attacks a Growing Concern

A recent report by an internet security firm, Mandiant, raises the alarm about the growing threat of cyber-warfare from China. The concerns raised by China’s activities are both military and economic. In a military conflict with China, flaws in the United States’ cyber-security systems could leads to devastating damage. For example, the United States’ power grids could be sabotaged by a Chinese cyber-attack.

In addition, Chinese cyber-attacks cause the United States and other countries a great deal of economic damage through the theft of intellectual property. In its report, Mandiant states that APTI- a Chinese cyber-warfare unit it is monitoring- has systematically stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations. Mike Rogers, a Republican congressman from Michigan, recently said that “China has stolen so much intellectual property that it would be considered 50 times the print collection of the United States Library of Congress.”

While Western business leaders are eager to develop their Chinese markets, the ongoing cyber-attacks from China are a growing concern in U.S.-China relations.